*Join us for Change Seminar today 10/29!*
*When*: today, 12pm-1pm *Where*: CSE2-271 *Who*: Hamid Mehmood *Title*: Towards Digitization of Collaborative Savings Among Low-Income Groups Author List: Hamid Mehmood, Tallal Ahmad, Lubna Razaq, Shrirang Mare, Maryam Zafar, Richard Anderson, Agha Ali Raza *Abstract: * Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA) is a mechanism of informal collaborative savings that is widely used across the globe. Despite its popularity and prevalence, it is not well-studied from HCI and CSCW perspectives. The global increase in mobile penetration has created opportunities to serve the unbanked using mobile-based Digital Financial Services (DFS) for greater financial inclusion but there have not been any DFS-based interventions around ROSCAs. We report a qualitative study involving 80 individuals to understand the dynamics of ROSCAs and opportunities for their digitization in the Pakistani context. We also present a smartphone-based Digital ROSCA platform designed on top of a simulated mobile money system. The platform was designed to be inclusive towards low-literate users. We present qualitative findings of its evaluation with 15 users (3 individual ROSCA groups). We find that digitization has the potential to support and strengthen traditional ROSCAs by mitigating issues like record-keeping, delayed payments, collection, distribution, and safety of money. It also allows the creation of payment history for individuals that can be used to score their financial credibility. *About the Speaker:* Hamid Mehmood works as a Research Associate at ITU Fintech Center Lahore, Pakistan. His research interests include Human Computer Interaction, Human Centered Design and ICTs for Development. He completed his Masters in Computer Science from Information Technology University, Lahore in 2017. He is a member of International Development and Innovation Network (IDIN) at MIT's DLab and have attended several design summits. Hamid has published his research work to CSCW, ICTD and COMPASS. -- Sara Vannini, PhD Lecturer - Integrated Social Sciences and Department of Communication University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Personal website: http://www.saravannini.com Sanctuary collective website: http://www.sanctuarycollective.net/ Pronouns: she, her, hers
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